Comments about this poem (1914 V: The Soldier by Rupert Brooke )

Rupert did die in that war.... Which certainly involved England. You must imagine a man sitting in a trench with his paper and pen, watching men die, screaming in most horrible ways. Then think if he wondered what it was that brought him to that place. Of course it was the love of his country, of everything he knew, the great love for family and friends, and their shared respect for peace. Then I think we could conclude if this is as good or lesser than any of his other poems. I think it is exactly marvelous and touching, as I feel exactly the same about my own country.
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The idea that a dead soldier: Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given... is a bit fanciful to say the least. From my experience of military life I should prefer if most of the soldiers I met kept their thoughts to themselves! A famous poem, but its sentimentality has not worn well seen through the carnage that followed. And Brooke's privileged life was by no means the life that most men and women had whom England bore. I do not think they would have written like this.
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This poem by Brooke unveils the mindset of the soldier sent to war in Europe. This was hoped to be the war to end all wars, but unfortunately we now know much better. He knew tyranny had to be defeated so all might enjoy the heaven he had experienced as a young child in England. We continue to fight today for many of the same reasons. Mankind perhaps will never overcome his fleshly urges of power, greed, lust, and other evils, so wars shall continue until all can learn to live peacefully and settle their differences in a rational manner. And until we learn to protect individual rights, by allowing the people to have democratic republics instead of mob democracies, atrocities en masse will continue.
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This poem by Brooke unveils the mindset of the soldier sent to war in Europe. This was hoped to be the war to end all wars, but unfortunately we now know much better. He knew tyranny had to be defeated so all might enjoy the heaven he had experienced as a young child in England. We continue to fight today for many of the same reasons. Mankind perhaps will never overcome his fleshly urges of power, greed, lust, and other types of evil, so wars shall continue until all can learn to live peacefully and settle their differences in a rational manner. And until we learn to protect individual rights, by allowing the people to have democratic republics instead of mob democracies, atrocities en masse will continue.
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The first half of this poem is just impeccable but im afraid to me it wained a bit in the latter..but thats just personal taste i think...to me the first 8 lines is all that i needed to read....
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We must read this in the context it is written - the only indication of war in this poem is - 'in a foreign field'. The writer was naive to the atrocities of war.... 'A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, '
From a 21st century perspective we can read 'made aware' as being ironic as propaganda was used for obfuscation not revelation: it duped men into enlisting.
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This poem is the last of five sonnets on the subject of World War One, that are considered his chief legacy as a writer. Brooke has been strongly criticized for presenting an idealized view of war and death that was far from the brutal reality. It has to be remembered, however, that they were all written at the beginning of the war before the long years of suffering had begun to take their toll on people's sensibilities. Brooke's view of war as a patriotic duty and an uplifting even transcendent experience was by far the one most commonly held at the period and it is harsh to criticize him for it. Later writers such as Owen and Sassoon, for example, saw things a different way and theirs is the view which nowadays generally prevails. But just as we do not condemn Shakespeare for not describing the graphic details of death in war or Jane Austen for not writing about the conditions of beggars in her society, it is unfair to condemn Brooke. This is and will always remain one the great patriotic poems.
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